Built for the year the tariff stack got rewritten twice.
Direct Line Partners started with a simple observation: every North American importer needed a re-quote in 2026, and almost nobody was selling one. Existing sourcing agents were single-country and built for Amazon sellers. OEMs and brands with real drawings and real reorders had nowhere to send them. The company is new; the people aren't — decades of sourcing products globally, with a tariff-first quote and an inspection system attached.
What we are, and what we aren't
We are a sourcing agent and manufacturing manager. We find and qualify factories in China and other countries, quote the same part from every viable origin, run the inspection system, and manage the account. You contract with and pay the factory directly. We never take title to your goods, never finance them, never warehouse them, and never hide a margin inside the FOB price. Our fee is 10% of FOB, invoiced per purchase order, and it is the only number on the price sheet.
We are not a trading company, not a platform, and not a quality-control vendor bolted on after a bad shipment. The inspection is the product; the factory is the vendor.
How the company works
Two founders, one clock. The US side runs sales, positioning, client communication and account management, in a North American time zone. The sourcing side runs the factory benches in China and other countries, audits, engineering, first articles, and inspection. The client sees one point of contact and one promise: a landed-cost comparison across China and other countries in ten business days, and reorders that match the sample.
Every stage of an engagement ends with a document — audit report, signed NNN, FAI report, inspection report, monthly scorecard — because a document is the only thing that survives a change of staff, a change of factory, or a dispute.
Founders
[Founder name]
Co-founder · Sales, marketing & accounts · United States
[Two or three sentences: go-to-market and e-commerce background across industrial and agricultural equipment brands; dealer channel and direct sales experience; why this business.]
[Founder name]
Co-founder · Sourcing, engineering & quality · China and other origins
[Two or three sentences: decades sourcing products globally for North American buyers, starting with Chinese manufacturers; engineering and quality background; the factory benches in other countries; why this business.]
What we'll always tell you
- When China still wins. About a third of re-quotes end that way.
- When Section 232 makes offshore metal a wash and domestic is the right call.
- When your program is too small for the fee to make sense, and where to go instead.
- What the tariff rate was on the day we quoted it, and that it will be re-checked every quarter.
Contact
hello@directlinepartners.com — or send five SKUs through the re-quote form and we'll confirm scope within one business day.
Send us your top five SKUs. Get every viable origin back.
No commitment. In ten business days you’ll have a landed-cost comparison you can put in front of your CFO, with named factories behind every number.